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Talk:Sacred fist
I wonder if the enlightened fist will also be included in NWN2...that is such a cool class! I think every monk I make in Mask of the Betrayer will dip a level of cleric or favored soul at some point and take this class once he/she reaches Monk 11/Divine 1 and gets greater flurry. Great way to get 16+ BAB on a monk, and the cleric buffs don't hurt either. How to level up a sacred fist The problem with the sacred fist is that I believe that most players do not know how to level up as one. For instance, most walkthroughs that I have read tell the reader that he/she should have equal levels both as a monk and a cleric. In actuallity, that is not necessary, and one can create a sacred fist character that is more powerful than any monk. The key is to play as a human or half-elf character, allowing you to have any class as your favored class. To become a sacred fist, you only need to be a level one cleric, and then one can continue leveling up as a monk without suffering an xp penalty. By the time a player reaches level 30, his character will be more powerful than being a monk exclusively. He will have all the same feats as a monk except for Perfect Self, but in exchange your character will have the feats he earns with whatever domain you choose (I personally like the Earth and War domains), as well as the slew of other ability feats you will earn as a Sacred Fist. You will also have a higher attack bonus while having the same amount of attacks per round than a "pure" monk (even when using Flurry of Blows), your saving throws will be higher, all your monk abilities will stack with the scared fists abilities and will be unaffected by the wearing of light armor (that includes Flurry of Blows and Monk Speed). AC bonus is the same as with a pure monk character, as well as the amount of damage your unarmed attack will do. The -8 attack penalty for using weapons is really not a big deal in retrospeck, and is in fact inconsequential when dealing with a monk-based characters. Perhaps best of all is the ability to cast spells, which of course will be compromised. But on the other hand, you have a character that is not only superior to the monk in combat but can also cast spells to make him even more powerful. Another important note is that there are no epic feats that are exclusive to monk characters in Neverwinter Nights 2 (Epic Spell resistance only has Diamond Soul as a prerequisite). This was my character by level 30: Race:Human (Half-Elf will work too) Classes: Lv. 19 Monk/Lv.1 Cleric/ Lv. 10 Sacred Fist Diety: Ilmater(Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike) Domains: Earth(Toughness feat), War(Weapon Focus feat) Spellcasting Feats: Practiced Spellcaster Background Feat: Spellcasting Prodigy Main Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Tumble and Diplomacy(Don't forget that 8 ranks in Lore is a prerequisite for Sacred Fists). I hope this helps all of you players who love playing monk characters but at the same time bored with it like I was. Sacred Fists kick ass!!! 23:34, 19 December 2008 (UTC) *** I believe the above post is... missing a few things regarding the trade-offs between a pure monk and a sacred fist. 1. Sacred fists may have diamond soul, but diamond soul is based on class level of monk. Therefore, taking 10 levels of sacred fist and one of cleric means giving up a whopping 11 spell resist by level 30. When fighting epic enemy spellcasters, the difference between spell resist 40 vs 29 is the difference between extremely powerful and barely useful. 2. Monks get high saving throws in all categories, while sacred fists have low saves in will. 3. While the sacred fist ends up with a 2 point advantage in BAB, there are two significant trade-offs. First, a pure monk will have two extra epic feat pics. These can be used for improving strength or dex by two (depending on which the character is using for his attack modifier), gaining 1 ab and either 1 ac or +1 to damage - or they can be used to gain weapon focus:unarmed and epic prowess, making up the ab loss. Second, being required to use a race without a starting ability bonus can again cost two points in strength or dex. 4. "The -8 attack bonus for using weapons is really not a big deal." People may draw their own conclusions if considering a weapon-using sacred fist; its worth noting that losing 8 ab makes you worse in melee than a wizard, even at level 30. Personally I wouldn't eat a -8ab to use a weapon when the sacred fist's most impressive bonus is an unarmed buff. 5. Lastly, most of the game is not experienced at level 30. When multiclassing to a sacred fist, important trade-offs are constantly forcing a player to choose between the two. If a player focuses on maximizing sacred fist as soon as possible, they will have to wait until level 17 (instead of 6) for improved knockdown, level 22 (instead of 11) for their extra greater flurry attack, level 27 (instead of 16) for adamantine fists... and so on. All this being said, sacred fists are certainly nothing to scoff at - they just come at a heavy price in monk goodies. At its most simplified: Gain: Extremely powerful 1 minute unarmed damage buff, 13 round divine power ab buff, assorted long-cast cleric buffs (especially with good domain choices), and restoration & healing spells; only the damage buff and divine power can't be gained through equipment, however. Lose: Extremely powerful spell resist (as if you chose a race with it), higher will saves, mind-affecting spell immunity and natural 10/adamantium damage resist, freedom to choose any race, the 2 basic feats required to gain sacred fist and improve weak spellcasting, the 2 epic feats for pure monks, the rounds required to cast buffs before attacking at full potential. For those considering sacred fist, I highly recommend Earth domain for toughness/stoneskin/energy immunity, Plant domain for barkskin (natural armor by spell 'frees' amulet slot), or Strength to gain more divine favor castings. Never, never forget that any round of combat spent buffing loses a string of high ab attacks.